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SQL

Currently, the commonly used techniques for storing persistent data are:

  • SQL based databases, e.g. sqlite3, Postgres, MySQL
  • NoSQL datastores, such as MongoDB, CouchDB, Aerospike, Cassandra, Couchbase, and Voldemort

This article (and series of subarticles) deals with SQL based databases, and how to access those from Java code.

In CMPSC 156, we use Postgres

Why Postgres (instead of sqlite3, MYSQL, for example)?

  • Historically, when Heroku had a free tier, it included convenient automatic deployment of Postgres databases. This is the main reason.
  • The rationale is not as strong now, but it can be tedious and error prone to switch database technologies; even though, in principle, SQL is standard across all of these platforms, there are nevertheless small incompatibilities, and each requires it’s own separate “driver” to connect.

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